Career Personality Evaluations

by Deb Dupree

Knowing your personality type can provide insight into career choices.

Career personality evaluations help provide greater self-awareness so career options can be explored with personal preferences and styles in mind. Personality is shaped over time and encompasses all the characteristics, attitudes, interests and mannerisms that define who you are. Some jobs are better suited for certain personality types, and evaluations provide insight on careers that fit your natural preferences and motivations. Some well-known personality tests include Myers-Briggs, Keirsey Temperament Sorter and the Holland Code Career Model. These tests require you to answer questions and make choices based on your preferences.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Natural personality preferences are identified with the Myers-Briggs tool, which uses a four-scale structure representing opposing personality styles: extroversion (E) versus introversion (I); sensing (S) versus intuition (N); thinking (T) versus feeling (F); and judging (J) versus perceiving (P). These four scales are grouped into sixteen combinations. Your evaluation provides a profile that corresponds to one of the sixteen combinations. The profile links your preferences to possible life and career choices. For example, an ISTJ profile reveals you are an introvert, likely driven by responsibility and objectivity. You may favor a career that requires precision and organization.

Keirsey Temperament Sorter

The Keirsey tool provides personality descriptions based on four temperaments or dispositions: the artisan, guardian, rationalist and idealist. Each category corresponds to a specific set of qualities and abilities that job seekers can use to their advantage. For example, guardians tend to focus on job duties and responsibilities. They are traditional, believe in law and order and favor operating within the rules. Guardians may be good at careers that involve supervision and management because they like to keep things running smoothly.

Holland Code Career Model

Six personality categories are the basis of the Holland Code Career Model: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. In the realistic category, you tend to favor careers that use your mechanical abilities. Those in the investigative category may lean toward careers that use their problem-solving abilities. Artistic personalities prefer careers in unstructured environments that allow them to be creative. If you have a social personality you may want to work with and help people. If you are enterprising, you like using your influence. Conventional people focus on detail and don’t mind working with numbers or data.

Understanding Personality Tests

Personality evaluations should not be used as a single basis for career decisions. These tests are meant to help you understand more about yourself and provide a personality perspective that guides your career choices based on your personal discoveries. These test are not meant to be definitive measures, but they are useful in uncovering more about your strengths and weaknesses. If you use a personality evaluation, it is important to understand the limits. Most evaluation tools are fee-based, but some versions of them are available online for free.

References

About the Author

Deb Dupree has been an active writer throughout her career in the corporate world and in public service since 1982. She has written numerous corporate and educational documents including project reports, procedures and employee training programs. She has a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee.